Criminal Law 11 edition Gardner, Wadsworth 1

Introduction

This book has been written by Thomas Gardner who is a well reputed attorney for a

long time. Here in this book the criminal laws have been elaborated. In every society

people exist who try to adopt an easier way to achieve more and in this effort they

deprive other people from their rights. It is necessary to formulate certain rules and

regulations in order to stop these people from the wrong route and protect the rights and

property of other citizens from such criminal minded people. The Criminal Law of the

United States is a document which deals with such people in all possible situations.

Chapter one: The Criminal Law: Purpose , Scope and Sources

The decisions of the Supreme Court for certain cases have been included in this

chapter after omitting "the Omission Crimes " which has been now included in the sixth

chapter. The California Preposition case has been included in this chapter in order to

highlight the reaction of Supreme court in the section of case analysis.

 General power has been given to every state, to make their own criminal laws.

According to the US constitution, federal government has only the authority to

participate in making those laws.

 The US constitution empowers the federal government to make certain specific

laws, including criminal laws under parts of the constitution which involves Commerce

Clause, empowered to make criminal laws for federal territories, military posts and

enclaves. These laws are applied against federal employees or officers for their crimes.
Criminal Law 11 edition Gardner, Wadsworth 2

 If the inter-state commerce is affected by certain actions, only then the federal

government is empowered by the Commerce Clause to regulate actions by using

criminal laws.

 The power to make Criminal laws can also be granted to the federal government

in certain conditions when different nations are involved in International conventions,

treaties and other agreements between them. The power to regulate/ manage the

shores and the sea area around the shores has been given to all countries, including

United States.

 Within the United States, the federal territory incorporates substantial land areas

of United States, Puerto Rico, other regions and enclaves which include the air ways

and sea approaches to the united States.

 Military courts are specifically available for legal proceedings of U.S. Citizens

serving in the military abroad or in the United States, for their crimes.

 Indian tribal courts are empowered to persecute crimes against Indians who are

charged with a crime on Indian domain or reservation.

 In this chapter the situation has also been discussed where there is no direct

victim of the crime like murder, robbery, rape or stealing which are known as victimless

crimes (Thomas Gardner).

Chapter Two : Jurisdiction

The second chapter of the book is named as Jurisdiction . According to the law every

state has been granted a general authority to formulate its own criminal law.. The
Criminal Law 11 edition Gardner, Wadsworth 3

central or the federal government has only been granted the power to make the U.S

Constitution.

There are particular sections of the constitution where the federal government has been

given some special authority to formulate the criminal laws in the areas which come

under the authority of federation such as conclaves ,military designations, and the

crimes and offences which have been conducted in a way that they affect or are directly

against the military officers or the federal employees.

There are special sections of the constitution which grant this sort of power such as

Commerce Clause and many other such sections or clauses.

The Federal Government has been granted the authority through the Commerce Clause

to regulate the criminal law by its own actions if these measures taken by the federal

government are only going to affect the Commerce related issues.

The criminal law also deals with the issues regarding international pacts , treaties and

agreements.

If the federal government wants to charge any individual with any sort of crime then it

must:

 The charge must be according to the face of the charge.

 The person should be charged on the location of the crime.

 Must present the individual charged in front of court where he will be tried as per

rules and regulations.

Criminal Law 11 edition Gardner, Wadsworth 4

 The Indians who are charged with any sort of crime on a place other than their

reservation or own country will be subjected to the law just as non Indians

 The military personnel of the US Army will be tried as per military law within their

services whether on air craft, ship or their concerned base.

 When US citizens commit any crime in any other country they will be tried in the

foreign court

US government has signed various treaties with almost eighty countries for extradition

on various terms and conditions. The federal law also deals with mail

crimes ,kidnapping , stealing of transport, kidnapping and illegal fighting (Thomas

Gardner).

Third chapter The Essential Elements of Crime

 Actus reus“ is that physically performed act which lead to the crime committed

which involves a person who commits the crime physically, a person who conspires or

orders to commit the crime and a person who assists in committing the crime. Whereas

„mensrea“ can be described as, „an act does not make a person guilty unless the mind

or intent is guilty“.

 This chapter also includes the intent of crime but alleged person has to prove his

innocence for not knowing the consequences of the event which have resulted in crime.

He can do this by presenting the witnesses of the event because it is very rare situation

when any person is not aware of all possible consequences of the act he commits or

intends to commit.
Criminal Law 11 edition Gardner, Wadsworth 5

 Supreme Court in the United States has classified the crimes as general intent

and specific intent.

 Mens Rea or the guilty mind states the view point that a person is supposed to

be guilty of a crime when his mind is guilty. For any individual failure to act as is

required by the Criminal Law or whatever law is applicable when he is unable to

respond to a particular situation in the required manner like :

 Not able to report the corpse of any individual

 Could not report the expiry of a child

 Failure of police officers to provide required first aid equipment or service

 Parents not able to fulfill the basic needs of their child like food, clothing or

education

 Escape of a person involved in any accident from the scene

 Omission homicide

The criminal law of every state possesses legislation regarding all of these

scenarios (Thomas Gardner).

Forth chapter: Criminal Liability

This chapter covers the legislation about a person who provokes or persuades another

person to commit a crime. It aims to cover the attempts made to damage the people

who become the victims of such crimes. Unilateral and the bilateral approaches for the

people who are convicted for planning conspiracies have been explained in this chapter.

The legislation has been made clear with the help of practical examples of the trials.
Criminal Law 11 edition Gardner, Wadsworth 6

Decisions of the Supreme Court have been mentioned in order to clarify all the

ambiguity (Thomas Gardner).

Chapter five :Criminal Responsibility and the Capacity to Commit a Crime

In this chapter the parts of the Criminal Law which deal with the responsibilities . The

juvenile courts have been discussed and certain sample cases depicting the exact

situation have been included. The cases of corporate liability on the environmental

crimes and the scenarios in which the court treats the corporations as criminals for

violating the environmental laws and defending . The competency , the diminished

capacity, the medicines which are utilized for restoring the diminished capacity have

been highlighted in various statutes and cases (Thomas Gardner).

Chapter six : The Law Governing the Use of Force

This chapter deals with the cases which involve the use of force in the event of self

defense. It presents the updated version of the cases which involve the situation of

"stand your ground". The rules for the use of force have been discussed along with the

role of police in such cases has also been described. Supreme Court cases depicting

different situations coherent with the law have also been discussed in this chapter.

It is a fact that the relationship between human beings and crimes is very old and the

crimes are being committed from the times since humans have started to live as

communities. It is evident from the documents of history that the incidents of robbery ,

theft and murder were also regarded as crimes in the most ancient civilizations. This

thing makes it clear that from ever since humans have a sense of justice and

intolerance for injustice in them. In this background it is a basic requirement of every

Criminal Law 11 edition Gardner, Wadsworth 7

community to have a criminal Law which clearly provides an outline to the residents of

that community that what they can do and what they cannot do in order to regulate their

conduct and behavior (Thomas Gardner).

It is the prerequisite of any democracy in the world in whatever part it may be , to

maintain law and order situation in the country ,protect basic rights of all of its citizens

and maintain basic tranquility in the region. As the governments act both as the masters

and servants of the nation so they have to formulate the laws of the country according

to the wish and the requirements of its citizens. The criminal law for justice can best be

practiced in the communities where people are just and fair and consequently they

support a fair system. Making a criminal law is a complicated process and involves a lot

of effort ,technicalities , knowhow and consensus. Most of the time it is formulated by a

well balanced team of professionals and public representatives and requires a lot of

effort. Once implemented must be executed in its true spirit in order to attain the desired

results in the community.

Bibliography
Thomas Gardner, Terry Anderson. Criminal Law 11 edition . Belmont USA: Cengage Publishing, 2012.